Oh, Blessed Peace...

Step Seven is the final step that focuses on making peace with yourself. One through Three made peace with God. Four through Seven are all about you. Going forward, we will turn our attention to making peace with others. That is why it is vital that we thoroughly embrace the Seventh Step for it offers us a hope for change. In this step, we bring without reservation our shortcomings to God, knowing that we are unable to control them or cast them out. We ask him to remove them and we trust that he will in his time. For people interested in working the Seventh Step, you could do this:

1. In prayer, offer God a specific list of any shortcomings you are willing to have him remove at this time.

2. Ask God to remove each specific defect and replace it with a characteristic that more honestly reflects who you are as a child of his. This alternative characteristic is your intention; it suits who you want to be in life moving forward. When letting one thing go, it is helpful to consider what will take its place!

3. Ask God to give you the strength and awareness to practice living AS IF the defect has been removed and the wherewithal to handle the times when it becomes apparent that your shortcomings are still active.

There may come a time in the future where you have other limitations that you would like to give to God for his removal. Isn’t it awesome to have a structure and process to help us keep moving along in our journey of restoration?